TAT Sample Stories

TAT Sample Stories

I have written some blogs about psychology tests and specifically about Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) as well. Aspirants have been asking me to post some sample stories. I had not done that so far because the tendency to copy these stories by aspirants is high and also of trying to ‘fit’ these stories in somewhat similar photographs. Please do not do so! I have written some sample stories in this blog.

Description: A house on fire and a man walking by

Story: Vivek was heading to his college when he heard screams of a lady from a house on fire. He rushed to the house and found that because of the strong wind it was difficult to douse the fire. He escorted the sole old lady occupant out of the house safely and informed the fire brigade. He took the help of some people who had gathered and neighbors to get buckets full of water and a water pipe to douse the fire. Some people brought some sticks and sand to beat the fire. On advice from the lady he retrieved the valuables from the house. By the time the fire brigade arrived the fire had already been controlled and could be quickly put off.

Description: A lady and a man working in laboratory

Story: Pia was pursuing her PhD on curing lung diseases in young children. As she researched the subject she realized that the children who had been kept in very hygienic environment were more susceptible to serious lung ailments because they had low immunity compared to the children who had been exposed to dirt and filth since birth. Her research work was greatly appreciated and it made the society aware that bringing up children in overly hygienic environment can be dangerous for their later lives because of lowered immunity.

Description: A lady standing at a crowded counter

Story: Rakhi went to an employment exchange center and noticed that many people were crowding up the counter for various works. She met the exchange center head to allow her to develop an app which allowed people to register online for vacancies. She developed the app and added multiple facilities to manage data, send message alerts to the registered people and facilitated companies to book slots to meet the people. This helped improve the efficiency of the employment exchange.

Description: A man lying on bed & a woman crying at the door

Story: Maya’s husband was ill. He had been diagnosed with dengue. She became sad and consulted the doctor. The doctor prescribed some medicines, healthy diet and nutritional supplements. Maya took care of her husband and gave him medicines and healthy food as prescribed. After one and a half months her husband began to recover and in a span of 3 months became well. He was really happy after getting well and Maya was glad that her effort brought a positive impact on her husband.

Description: 5-6 soldiers lying huddled together

Story: It has been a tiring day for all the soldiers after the successful counter insurgency operation. They had not slept for 2 days. So after finishing the operation they reported the successful completion of the operation to their senior and decided to relax. After relaxing for some time they returned to their location. They were felicitated for their bravery. The soldiers were really happy and were ready for future operations.

Story: Rajendra and Soni were living their life peacefully in a village. One day, Soni comes to know through some people that they had seen Rajendra with one woman. Soni became agitated and concerned for her marriage. She questioned Rajendra about having an illicit affair. Rajendra became annoyed. He explained to Soni that he was only helping this woman who was his friend’s sister in her dairy farming as she was alone now.

Description: Faces of an elder & a younger man wearing jackets and ties

Story: Mohan worked at a factory where Mr Verma was his boss. He had been working there for 9 years. He had joined the factory as a trainee and due to his hard work, sincerity and commitment he had become the Manager. Mr. Verma trusted and supported him. They decided to start manufacturing biodegradable packing bags for big items. Their product was good and found many buyers and got support from the government as well.

Description: A man at a graveyard

Story: Anish had gone to the graveyard to pay homage to his departed grandfather. He had always been a source of inspiration and inculcated in him good ethical values and taught him to be modest and down to earth. He cleaned the grave, put flowers and remembered the good times they had had. He resolved to continue working in accordance with the good values inculcated in him by the departed soul.

Description: Accident of cart and car in middle of the road and a youth passing by

Story: Rajat was going to the market when he saw an accident of a car and a cart on the road. He immediately ran to the spot of accident and saw that the driver of the cart was badly injured and the driver of the car was unhurt. He called the police using his mobile. The car was functional. The police reached the spot in 10 min. He took the cart driver in the car to the nearest hospital and informed his relatives. Once the relatives arrived and took over the patient he went home.

Description: A lady in European dress with a book standing in the foreground, while farming activity is on in the background

Story: Mary was the daughter of a farmer. She was a bright girl and wanted to raise the economic status of her family. She studied agricultural science and returned to her village. She took a small plot of her farm and used modern seeds and methods of cultivation to demonstrate the efficacy of her knowledge. The excellent results converted her parents into believing in her methods which were used on their entire farm next year. Their farm income trebled and they were very happy. Soon the entire village adopted the modern methods of farming and prospered.

Blank Slide Story

Sita was a young civil engineer who was hired to look into the failure of a flyover bridge. She reviewed all the files, drawings, datasheets of material purchased, quality reports of material used in the construction and the load calculations. She came to a conclusion that there was sub-standard construction material used. She decided to bring this out. She had to put up a brave fight against corrupt officers at every level. Sheer determination, courage and will to bring about justice to the affected families motivated her to keep fighting. In the end she won the case and was able to claim handsome compensation for the affected families.

Points to Note in the Stories

No one has won PVC.

No adjectives are used to describe the main character.

No location of towns and districts is given.

There are no unnecessary preambles given about the situation or the characters.

The stories can be written easily within 3-4 min.

The stories are relate to the pictures shown as also routine life events.

When the scene is of a European location, the character is given a suitable name.

Related

Sir, the articles which you are posting, is really very helpful…. earlier i had few myths like, we have to mention exact age, central characters education qualification/place of working and his place of living and we have to show some extraordinary qualities.
But after reading these sample stories, it has become very clear to me that we have to mention story on our simple day to day activity only.
Sir i would request you to make 1 article on WAT because there is lot of myths about it like, we dont have to use should, must, can, orders in our sentences.
Thank you

sir,
Thank you for posting such stories.Earlier i use to evaluate my own stories by taking out the OLQ shown by the hero as suggested by some ssb site.I would like to know whether a story becomes desirable depending on the OLQ’s projected?

By writing OLQs of the hero you are only wasting valuable time and words. Your OLQs get highlighted by the actions and ideas of the hero in the stories. SSB websites are generally a creation of rejected candidates. There is great risk in trusting them!